The Guevara Lock of Beethoven's Hair

The Guevara Lock of Beethoven's hair was purchased at auction for £3,600 ($7,300 including
commission) at Sotheby's, London, in December 1994 by four members of the American
Beethoven Society: Dr. Alfredo Guevara, Mr. Ira Brilliant, Dr. Thomas Wendel, and
Caroline Crummey. Mr. Brilliant, Dr. Wendel, and Mrs. Crummey then donated their portion
to the Beethoven Center.

Dr. Guevara, the principal investor, donated a majority of his portion to the Center
as well, and the lock is named in honor of this generous gift.

Description of the Guevara Lock of Beethoven's Hair

The lock contains hair with three clearly observable colors: grey, white, and brown.
The hairs range in length from 7-15 cm. (ca. 3-6 inches). Given that hair grows at
an average rate of one-half inch per month, the hair cut from Beethoven's head on
his death bed represents hair grown during the last 6-12 months of Beethoven's life.

Other locks of Beethoven's hair are located in the Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C.; the University of Hartford, Connecticut; the British Library, London, Great
Britian; the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna, Austria; the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn,
Germany, and some private collections.

Beethoven's Hair by Russell Martin

For an extended history of the Guevara Lock of Beethoven's Hair, please consult the
book Beethoven's Hair by Russell Martin (New York: Broadway Book, 2000), released on October 17, 2000 (ISBN 0-7679-0350-1).
Martin's book recounts the riveting tale of the Guevara Lock of Beethoven's Hair and
how it traveled from Beethoven to the Hiller family and then to Nazi-occupied Denmark
during World War II, on to Sotheby's in London, and reached its final destination
at the Beethoven Center in 1996. The book also reveals preliminary results of scientific
testing on a few strands of the hair, including DNA and trace metal analysis.

Paperback copies of the book are still in print from Amazon and other online vendors.

Beethoven's Hair on film

A film version of Beethoven's Hair, produced for Canadian television by Rhombus Media
in 2005, is available for purchase or rental from Bullfrog Films. It received five nominations for Gemini Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Emmy Awards)
and won awards in three categories: sound, screenwriting (Thomas Wallner), and directing
(Larry Weinstein).